Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah

I don't know very much about China.  It seems like a very foreign country to me and a culture I cannot relate to.  My experience with it is very limited, however, I did read one book involving Chinese culture recently and this happens to be my second called Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah and is an autobiographical novel.  It was an interesting book and sad.  I felt horrible for Adeline as she was treated unbelievably badly by her Step-Mother and Father and the rest of her family.  She had pretty much no one and everyone she tried to love or be kind to was taken away from her on purpose so that she would continue to have no one and so that she would experience sadness in her life.  The Step-Mother was so unbelievably horrible I can't imagine it's real.  The family was so messed up I couldn't stand it. I guess though, a lot of families are like that and so is my own to a certain extent.  What a sweet little girl I had pictured in my mind when I saw the photos in the middle of the book.  It is so sad to read this story.  That family could easily have been very happy.  It is a good lesson to read this and stop anything we are doing wrong to each other in our own families and try to love each other the best we can with the best intentions.

A great deal of Chinese history is referred to in this book.  I did not know that people were mean to Chinese people just because they were Chinese.  This happened fairly recently and in Europe.  I guess I never really paid attention to it. I thought Chinese people were usually doing fine socially and were not discriminated against at all.  I think it helped me learn more about China and it's history reading this novel.  I also obtained an idea of what the Chinese culture is like from one person's opinion anyway.  I will have to read more books regarding China and pay attention to what it is like for Chinese people today.  I would give this book an 7/10.